Parents
Parents:
KidsMatter2.org is seeing an alarming rate of children harming or considering harming themselves. We receive numerous reports almost daily from concerned friends, relatives, and parents of these children. Please pay attention to warning signs. Get involved with your children. Talk to them daily. Ask questions about their lives. Show them love. Let them know that they do matter and are important to you. Let them know you care. On the KidsMatter2.org website in the Prevention Resource section is information on suicide prevention. Please contact us at KidsMatter2.org if we can help!
First let me thank you for visiting the website and second for clicking on Parents Place. My name is Amber, and I am the parent of four teenagers, an 11 year old and a 10 year old. Just like many of you, I am winging it every day. Life would be so much easier if our children came with instruction manuals, or if Google had all the answers!!
I am not a doctor, a counselor or a teacher. I am a parent, going through some of the same struggles each and every one of you are. We need words of encouragement at times without the standard protocol. We need to know that we are not alone, we don’t always know the answer, and contrary to what we are taught, that’s okay. We all have one common area of expertise, we love our children and we can build on that.
For this week, start a routine of asking how their day went. We all have routines. I come home from work, start cooking, ask for school clothes to be put in the laundry room, ask if they have any homework and usually I have to ask why their chores aren’t finished before I got home. Sound familiar? Somewhere in all the hustle of the afternoon I forget that they had a day too. “How was your day?” It’s easy. Give that child or teenager your undivided attention. Some may say, well that’s not possible, I’m too busy, or once they start talking about their day they never stop. The only way you get to know your child is by listening, don’t berate them with questions, they will shut down. Just listen, you will be surprised how much you will learn by asking one simple question every day!
My email address is amber@kidsmatter2.org, please send me any topics for discussion or any questions or insight that you would like to see discussed on this page!
